Why Young Men in the US Should Pay Attention to and Advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment
July 23, 2024
What a couple of heady, wildly successful days in Washington, DC!
We are so thrilled to be celebrating with you yesterday’s successful passage-- by a 232 to 183 vote--of HJ Res 79, the House bill to remove the deadline from the 1972 ERA.
The ERA Coalition statement:
”We’re thrilled that the House removed the time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment today when it passed H.J. Res. 79. We’re also very happy to note it was a bipartisan vote: five Republicans joined Democrats in supporting equality for women. We look forward to continuing this work with S.J. Res 6, a bipartisan bill to remove the time limit in the Senate, sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin and Lisa Murkowski. We thank all the legislators for their efforts to recognize the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to our Constitution.”
The Senate is where our next action takes place. Right now there are 44 Democrats and 2 Republicans (Murkowski and Susan Collins) signed on as co-sponsors for a total of 46. Please reach out to your Senators (check our Advocacy map here to see if they sponsor) and urge them to support equality for girls and women.
We are thankful to our leaders in the House, HJ Res 79 Sponsor Representative Jackie Speier, longtime ERA champion Representative Carolyn Maloney and the Leadership for bringing the bill to the floor- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler.
On the Coalition team side, congratulations to our DC Director and Director of Outreach and Advocacy, Bettina Hager for such excellent work.
For those of you who were not able to watch yesterday’s vote or Wednesday’s press conference, I am including links below to recordings of both events:
Watch yesterday’s vote here.
Watch Wednesday’s Speaker Pelosi's press conference with Board Member Heidi Schreck and me speaking here.
Please read:
Speaker Pelosi's floor speech in support of the Resolution on the Equal Rights Amendment here.
Judiciary Chair Nadler's floor statement here.
Oversight Chair Maloney's press release here.
Congresswoman Speier's press release here.
Democratic Caucus Breakfast
We were honored to be invited to speak at Majority Whip James Clyburn's Democratic Caucus Breakfast on Wednesday morning with many legislators attending. My ten year old granddaughter Avery, who started her lobbying for the ERA when she was seven, joined us for the historic events this week. Speaker Pelosi's words to Avery:" This is all about you, Avery." It is all about the equal future millions of girls in our country will have once we give them a place in the Constitution. My remarks to the Caucus are here.
Jessica Neuwirth, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Carol Jenkins
We were so pleased that board members Heidi Schreck (and her husband Kip), Mona Sinha (with her daughters) and Antuan Johnson--as well as our Legal Task Force Chair Linda Coberly, special guest, former Illinois Representative Steve Andersson, supporter Sally Minard, and advisor Deborah Ashford were able to join us for the historic vote.
Jessica Neuwirth, Carol Jenkins, Avery Hines-Mudry, Bettina Hager, and Heidi Schreck
I hope everyone has a great weekend and takes time to celebrate this tremendous victory!
In solidarity and Onward!
Carol Jenkins
Co-President and CEO
ERA Coalition
